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While attending a craft beer festival over the weekend, we were struck by the obvious – everyone’s brewing Session IPAs nowadays. These full-flavored, low-alcohol hop-bombs were on full display and if the massive crowds that lined up to try them are any indication – people are increasingly all about them.
We acknowledge that calling the Session IPA “craft beer’s newest next big thing” is a bit of a stretch, as they’ve actually been around for a while now. But recently, the whole Session IPA trend has reached critical mass and they’ve now entered craft beer’s mainstream marketplace with a vengeance. And if what we saw over the weekend is any indication – they’re not going away any time soon.
How We Got Here
One of the things that has defined craft beer over the years and helped differentiate it from corporate beer is its alcohol levels. Unlike the commercial beers that we’d all grown up with, craft beer unleashed not just the brew’s flavor, but also its strength. These new beers delivered big buzz – and we liked it – we liked it a lot.
For the last decade, high ABV beers have ruled. For many craft beer lovers, the stronger the beer, the better. Imperial anything’s became insanely popular and whether you want to admit it or not, the strength of these beers was part of their attraction.
Over time, things calmed down. We can speculate on the” why” and the “when” – but clearly the public’s infatuation with high alcohol beer has been evolving and the trend towards session beers (which are loosely defined as having an alcohol level of 5% or less) reflects that.
No need to panic. Imperial IPAs, Stouts, and Barleywines will always be popular. They’re some of our greatest craft beers – people love them and they’re here to stay. But American craft beer is all about variety and options – and session beers are an option that people are increasingly gravitating towards.
The primary reason that session beers are growing in popularity is pretty obvious. You can enjoy several of them at a gathering or festival without getting so blasted that you’re speaking in tongues. For a number of reasons, many of us just don’t want to get as buzzed as we once did anymore – and session beers speak to that.
Why Session IPAs?
We don’t really have to explain this to you…do we?
Three Session IPAs That We Enjoyed This Weekend and You Might Want To Check Out
All Day IPA – Founders Brewing Co (Grand Rapids, MI) – One of the pioneers in the session IPA movement, Founders All Day IPA is an amazingly full-bodied 4.7% ABV beauty that took a Gold in the 2010 GABF. We could have enjoyed several of these – and guess what – we did!
Pop-Up I.P.A. – Boulevard Brewing Co. (Kansas City, MO) – Coming in with an even lower ABV than the Founder’s All Day, Boulevard’s Pop-Up I.P.A. more than makes up for it in flavor. Launched in August of 2013, this 4.2% sessionable IPA packs a big floral hop aroma with relatively low bitterness. Again, we drank several.
Go To IPA – Stone Brewing Co. (Escondido, CA) – In the world of Session IPAs, this is the new kid on the block, having launched nationally just this month. This 4.5% ABV IPA uses a technique that the brewery calls “hop bursting,” wherein an unreasonable amount of hops are added at the end of the boil and whirlpool stages so that the finished beer takes on a mellow bitterness and massive hop aromas. A worthy addition to the Session IPA pantheon – Go To IPA is bright, hoppy, and impressive.
